QUOTE (jariten @ Sep 5 2004, 08:32 AM)
hmm, well lets think about this for a second. the force appears to possess a will and desire of its own that is largely unknowable but that influences the lives and destinies of those it comes in contact with, is powerful, has a connection with people and a large group of robed followers. remind you of anything?
Bullshit. The force is a power that is in all living things, and a notion of body-mind unity. It can be tapped into to enhance one's sense of self, but it does not have ideas. Use your anger impulses, and the force will enhance your aggression. Use your calm impulses, and the force will lead you to enlightenment. Either way is power.
Sound anything like Zen mysticism? It should.
And the robed fellows, travelling about with the swords, spouting practical koans not based in any notion of deity, who focus on meditation, discipline, and physical fitness: which sorts of monks do they resemble to you, the Christian ones or the Zen kind?
I'll tell you which kind: they are the Zen kind.
Lucas took a serious blow to the head and decided to turn STAR WARS into myth, and couldn't be bothered to study the source myth. So he's just wedging in whatever crap he remembers from Sunday school. And it's embarrassing. If he managed to use elements from both traditions, and work them together like there was any kind of coherency, then that would be fine, commendable even. But no, no he didn't. He abandoned one half-assed but fun approach in favor of another half-assed and embarrassing approach.
His choice; his movie. God bless him.
Q: How can oyu honestly justify Obi not having a midi-count kit in his home? He could have tested Luke on the ship, since the things seem to be so important that Jedi walk around carrying them on diplomatic missions. Certainly Yoda would have had them.
A: The midichlorians are as embarrassiung an idea as the jet boots on R2 D2. It makes as much sense introducing huge changes like that so deep into a story as it would to suddenly colour-tint Han Solo to make him black, and then say he's Lando's brother.
"I had a lot of different ideas. At one point, Luke, Leia and Ben were all going to be little people, and we did screen tests to see if we could do that." -George Lucas, in STAR WARS: the Annotated Screenplays (p197).